Widows (2018)
DIRECTOR: Steve McQueen
CAST: Viola Davis, Elizabeth Debicki, Michelle Rodriguez, Cynthia Erivo, Colin Farrell, Daniel Kaluuya, Brian Tyree Henry, Liam Neeson, Robert Duvall
REVIEW:
Widows could be considered a heist movie, but it’s not a testosterone-fueled action flick, and it’s even further away from a lighthearted lark in the vein of something like Ocean’s Eleven. Just a cursory glance at the filmography of director and co-writer Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame, 12 Years a Slave) shows he’s a filmmaker of more serious intentions, and thematic subtext related to female empowerment, corruption in politics, race relations, and social injustice make Widows about more than “just” a heist movie. One could argue McQueen and co-writer Gillian Flynn (Gone Girl) bite off more than they can chew—the narrative is prone to spending too much time on side tangents and could have benefited from a leaner, tighter edit—but there’s enough here to make Widows an engaging, if imperfect, slow burn crime drama/thriller achieving a little uniqueness by boasting an all-female lead cast. Continue reading
The Commuter (2018)
DIRECTOR: Jaume Collet-Serra
CAST: Liam Neeson, Vera Farmiga, Patrick Wilson, Sam Neill, Jonathan Banks, Elizabeth McGovern
REVIEW:
Another year, another Liam Neeson action flick. Once a “serious thespian”, Neeson has recently reinvented himself as starring in as many disposable thrillers as Steven Seagal. This time, the big guy reunites with Jaume Collet-Serra, who attempts a variation on their previous project, Non-Stop, a wannabe Hitchcockian thriller set within the confines of an airplane and serving up paranoia with a planeload of suspects and red herrings. This time, in what passes for variety on Neeson’s filmography these days, it’s a train. If you enjoyed Non-Stop, you may also find The Commuter intriguing, but while Non-Stop was able to distract from its plot holes and implausibilities “in the moment”, the convoluted mess going on in The Commuter isn’t able to achieve the same effect, at least not to the same extent. This is the kind of movie that defines “flash in the pan”: compulsive viewing in the moment, and immediately disposable.
Continue readingTaken 3 (2015)
DIRECTOR: Olivier Megaton
CAST: Liam Neeson, Forest Whitaker, Maggie Grace, Dougray Scott, Famke Janssen, Leland Orser, Sam Spruell
REVIEW:
WARNING: THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN “SPOILERS”
Taken 3 is what might be expected from an unnecessary sequel in a mediocre action franchise that arguably never needed sequels to begin with. 2009’s Taken was the best of these movies—and even then, it wasn’t that great—with each follow-up offering diminishing returns on the modest premise, and now #3 (directed like its 2012 immediate predecessor by original helmer Luc Besson’s protege Olivier Megaton, while Besson remains credited as a co-writer and producer) is the least of the three. Devotees of this series, or those simply looking for a fleeting diversion, might find it distracting enough to hold their cursory attention for a couple hours, but it’s a generic and forgettable action flick that offers nothing memorable.
Continue readingNon-Stop (2014)
DIRECTOR: Jaume Collet-Serra
CAST: Liam Neeson, Julianne Moore, Michelle Dockery, Anson Mount, Corey Stoll, Scoot McNairy, Lupita Nyong’o, Linus Roache
REVIEW:
Non-Stop is a bit like a souped-up Hitchcock thriller, with occasional action scenes tossed in so modern audiences won’t get bored waiting for the diabolical premise to unfold. To that end, it generates enough suspense to distract us from plot holes (something Hitchcock himself wasn’t always above). It’s not a great thriller, but it’s compulsively watchable and keeps us wanting to see how things wrap up without letting us be sure of that until the climax. Continue reading
Clash of the Titans (2010)
DIRECTOR: Louis Letterier
CAST:
Sam Worthington, Liam Neeson, Ralph Fiennes, Gemma Arterton, Alexa Davalos, Mads Mikkelsen, Jason Flemyng, Liam Cunningham, Hans Matheson, Nicholas Hoult, Pete Postlethwaite
REVIEW:
I don’t look back on the original Clash of the Titans through rose-tinted nostalgic glasses. I probably watched it a hundred times when I was a kid, and thought it was great, but in hindsight, it’s campy and hokey, with laughably wooden acting, led by a poofy-haired Harry Hamlin and Laurence Olivier on autopilot, and Ray Harryhausen’s stop-motion animation was state-of-the-art in its heyday in the ‘50s and ‘60s but compared to 1977’s Star Wars made the 1981 Titans look significantly older than it was. While unnecessary remakes abound in Hollywood, this is the kind of movie that could actually benefit from a remake with better acting and updated visual effects. Continue reading
The Chronicles of Narnia: Voyage of the Dawn Treader (2011)
DIRECTOR: Michael Apted
CAST:
Ben Barnes, Skandar Keynes, Georgie Henley, Will Poulter, Anna Popplewell, William Moseley, Gary Sweet, Billie Brown, Tilda Swinton
voices:
Liam Neeson, Simon Pegg
REVIEW:
While it is adapted from C.S. Lewis’ beloved seven-book children’s series, The Chronicles of Narnia has had a hard time attracting the same following on the screen as it has on the page. Continue reading
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
DIRECTOR: Andrew Adamson
CAST:
William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Ben Barnes, Sergio Castellitto, Pierfrancesco Favino, Peter Dinklage, Warwick Davis, Tilda Swinton
voices:
Liam Neeson, Eddie Izzard, Ken Stott
REVIEW:
Following 2005’s The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, Prince Caspian, the second in C.S. Lewis’ beloved but juvenile seven-book series, makes a conscious effort to inject more action but remains a close relative of its predecessor, with all the flaws and virtues that entails. Continue reading
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe (2005)
DIRECTOR: Andrew Adamson
CAST:
William Moseley, Anna Popplewell, Georgie Henley, Skandar Keynes, Tilda Swinton, James McAvoy, Jim Broadbent
voices:
Liam Neeson, Rupert Everett, Ray Winstone, Dawn French, Michael Madsen
REVIEW:
It’s no secret that the massive success and critical acclaim of The Lord of the Rings and run-away Harry Potter mania have revived the fantasy genre as a viable and fertile ground in the eyes of many, and their popularity has inspired any number of films, mostly also adaptations of popular books, to aspire to their heights, but none have managed it. Many of these are inferior flash-in-the-pan wannabes like The Spiderwick Chronicles and Eragon. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe, an adaptation of the first in C.S. Lewis’ beloved seven-book series, has a more respectable pedigree than that, but it’s unlikely to threaten Rings or Potter for a few reasons. Continue reading
Batman Begins (2005)
DIRECTOR: Christopher Nolan
CAST:
Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes, Gary Oldman, Morgan Freeman, Cillian Murphy, Tom Wilkinson, Rutger Hauer, Ken Watanabe
REVIEW:
Batman is both one of DC Comics’ most recognizable and popular characters and one of the most cinematically ill-used. Originally conceived as a brooding figure on the line between hero and vigilante, the original seriousness was completely abandoned first by the campy 1960s television series starring Adam West, and then by Tim Burton and Joel Schumacher’s series of feature films in the late ’80s and ’90s. These movies started out over-the-top and ended up downright cartoonish. The entire original conception of the character had virtually been abandoned, and as the films grew ever more patently ridiculous, even fans had had enough. Batman looked dead in the water. Then British director Christopher Nolan, coming off the thrillers Memento and Insomnia, and screenwriter David S. Goyer took on the task of resurrecting Batman, not as a continuation of the previous lackluster film series, but as a totally new narrative showing us something we’d never seen detailed onscreen before: the origins of the superhero. While remaining faithful to the broad strokes of established Batman background, Nolan and Goyer put their distinctive spin on the familiar story. Most importantly, they were faithful to the darker and more serious original conception of the character. The result was by far the best Batman film yet made, and solid enough to appeal even to non-Batman aficionados. A Batman movie has finally been made right. Continue reading
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
DIRECTOR: Ridley Scott
CAST: Orlando Bloom, Eva Green, Jeremy Irons, Marton Csokas, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Ghassan Massoud, Alexander Siddig, David Thewlis, Michael Sheen, John Finch, Edward Norton
REVIEW:
In a number of his previous films, Ridley Scott has proven he knows how to make an epic. With its desert landscape and ancient setting, Kingdom of Heaven bears the closest resemblance to 2000’s Oscar-winning Gladiator, but in some ways is an even more technically ambitious production. Unfortunately, it’s a far less engaging motion picture. Continue reading